The invention relates to a method for the production of a metal foam, in which method a suitable foam material is, if necessary, provided with an electrically conducting surface layer, after which the material is subjected to a metal deposition treatment in an electrolytic bath.
A method of this type is disclosed in EP-B1-0151064.
In said publication it is described that an electrically conducting surface layer is applied, in a first step, by cathode sputtering or ionic deposition on an organic support material of high porosity, while in a second step metal is deposited in a chemical and/or electrochemical step until the desired coating thickness is obtained.
It can be seen from said publication that the deposition of the electrically conducting surface layer can also take place in a chemical way, as is disclosed in the prior art.
Metal foam structures of this type have many fields of application:
The material can be used for the production of electrodes for electric accumulators or batteries as well as for electrodes for fuel cells or alternatively as electrode supports.
In addition, materials of this type can be employed as support materials for catalysts which are used in various chemical process units such as cracking plants and also in catalytic devices in motor vehicles.
Metal foam materials of this type can also be used for acoustic insulation.
The material as described in the above-mentioned publication has, in general, a metal deposit which is unsuitable for certain applications; thus, for example, the physical and mechanical properties will generally leave something to be desired.
To that end, the present application aims to provide a method of the indicated type which makes it possible to provide in particular the surface of the resulting metal foam with specific physical and/or chemical properties compared with the surface of a metal foam obtained by the method of the prior art.